hathycol | (no subject)

So, er, I start induction training on Monday, 8-3 shift. My parents, both survivors of working in care homes (Mum used to do it full time, Dad used to do a few months of nights as well as days at the hospital he works at so we could afford to go on holiday) find this hysterically funny ("at least we were trained and did the fun stuff like medicines") and keep on telling me horror stories.

Because apparently, you know, I haven't spent the last two summers on the nursing home circuit. Sheesh.

Anyway, right now the plan is to work nights as it involves less hands-on stuff and more, you know, cleaning and preparing the home for the next day. And watching lots of rubbish late night telly. I have a feeling I will sort of miss being a domestic, actually, because I find cleaning quite satisfying and therapeutic (shut up) and also I got paid more to clean toilets. No wonder there's no jobs advertised in the paper for cleaning; everyone else seems to have gotten wind of my GENIUS career plans.

But, er, yes, night shifts seem like a great idea because I will be able to ignore my family and be paid for doing so. Hurrah!

I actually sort of got hired for another job today, but I'm not phoning back. I'm now a bit afraid of my lucky trousers. I deliberately ballsed up the interview. "How would you make sure the human rights of the resident were respected?" "Which type of human rights? European or British?" And she still hired me! It's a bit too far away, though. Plus, it wasn't clean, and smelt... off. That's the best reckoning of a care home, the smell. Remember this if you ever have elderly relatives: happy staff, happy cleaners and a good smell and you're fine. Miss one of these and it'll be terrible.

So, er, yes. Starting a job after just over a week at home. I'll say this for myself, I'm getting better at this 'blagging my way into employment' thing.

As a treat to myself - today is my last payday from the union and also I will hopefully have full-time paychecks turning up in a month or so - I finally caved in and bought a new phone. It is cheap, it doesn't do anything posh, the number is the same (I hope the SIM card goes in!) but it represents the first first-hand phone I've had for, er, five years? God, I'm a cheapskate. It does, however, make phone calls and texts and doesn't arbitrarily decide to not recieve signal for *checks watch* nearly two days so hurrah for that! I am so behind on technology that I'm impressed because it's black and shiny and is a flip-phone. I may occasionally pretend to be on Star Trek.

No, that was a lie. I'll do it more than occasionally.